Selective signaling apparatus.



No. 795,532. PATENTED JULY 25, 1905. P. R. MoBERTY.

SELECTIVE SIGNALING APPARATUS. APPLIUATION FILED APR. 4,1901.

INVENTORI FRANK R. MS BERTY.

ATTORNEY.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK R. McBERTY, OF EVANSTON, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO WESTERN ELECTRICCOMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 25, 1905.

Application filed April 1, 1901. Serial No. 54,230.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK R. MoBERTY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Evanston, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Selective SignalingApparatus, of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exactdescription.

My invention relates to the selective switching of circuits or actuationof mechanism electrically from adistant point; and its object is toprovide an improved system by which a large number of responsive devicesmay be selectively controlled with ease and precision without unduecomplication of circuits and apparatus.

Generally speaking, my invention contemplates a series ofelectromagnetic switches arranged in pairs or groups, the members ofeach group being responsive selectively each to a particularactuating-current which is distinctive in kind or circuit. Each of saidswitches is adapted when actuated to bring the succeeding switch of theseries into operative connection or condition, so as to respond toanother or different current next to be applied, each switch alsocontrolling means for maintaining its own shifted condition. Mechanismcontrolled at a distant point is provided for successively applying thedif ferent electrical agents or currents required to actuate the membersof each group of electromagnetic switches, so that by applying suchcurrents in consecutive order the several switches of the series may beshifted one after another until the desired one is reached. Each switchmay control any desired responsive devicesuch, for instance, as asignalindicator and any one of said responsive devices may thus beselectively controlled from the distant point. Means are provided forsubsequently restoring all the switches to their original conditions inreadiness for another actuation.

A typical form of my invention is diagrammatically illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in \vhich Figure 1 exhibits its practicalapplication to the apparatus of a well-known call-distributing systemfor a telephone-exchange whereby any one of a number of signal-lamps atthe central oflice may be selectively excited by the manipulation of aswitch at the subator the particular switchboard to which the call shallbe trunked, so that oral communication between the distributing operatorand the subscriber is rendered unnecessary; and Figs. 2 and 3 are detailviews of the controlling-switch at the substation.

In the form of. the invention shown in the drawings the electromagneticswitches at the central office are arranged in pairs, and the selectiveoperation of the members of each pair is obtained by employingdifl'erent electrical currents, which in this case are made distinctivein circuit rather than in character-that is to say, twoactuating-circuits are required, which in this case are formed by theline conductors 1 2 of the telephone-line, together with acommon orearth return 3. At the substation the line conductors 1 2 are extendedthrough normally open contacts m m respectively, to the switch-contactsb b of a controlling-switch b, the telephones a a',being included in thecircuit between the switch I) and the switch m. The switch-springs t bnormally rest upon contacts which are joined together and grounded by aconductor 3, which includes an impedance-coil c. A switch-lever 7) isprovided, which may be rocked .to one side or the other to separateeither of the switches b 6 from their normal ground-contacts, Theswitch-lever is arranged so that in shifting from one alternativeposition to the other one set of contacts will be closed or returned totheir normal grounded condition before the other set is opened. Thetelephonereceiver a when resting upon the switch-hook m breaks thecircuits of both conductors 1 2 at the contacts an m respectively, thesecontacts being closed when the telephone is taken from its hook for use.

At the central station the line is connected with the usual spring-jackd or switching-terminal in a switchboard. Four trunk-lines are shown,each of which may be assumed to lead to a different central station orswitchboard. For the purpose of designating to an answering operatorwhich of the several offices is called four signal-lamps e e c e areprovided in the switchboard near the spring-jack d. Extensions of lineconductors 1 and 2 are led to one pole of a batteryf at the centraloffice, whose other pole is connected with the grounded or commonreturn-conductor 3. The extension of each conductor contains a relay,those of the two conductors being denoted g and h, respectively, havingrear and forward contacts and are controlled byacut-off switch 2', whichis actuated by a magnet whose winding is in a portion 4 of a localbattery-circuit terminating in a contactpiece of spring jack (Z.

For all but one of the selective devices as signals to be controlledthere are provided relays or electrically-actuated switches, theswitches for lamps 1/, a", and being designated by Z:, 7c, and krespectively, while lamp 6 is controlled by relay 70. Each switchconsists of an actuating-magnet 5, two switchlevers Z and and normal andalternate contacts Z and 7/ l for the levers. The contacts Z l are, infact, the armature-levers. When attracted to the magnet, each makescontact with the corresponding switch-lever and then presses the latteraway from its resting anvil.

The levers q and it of relays z and /t are connected with a wire 5. Theforward anvils and i1 form terminals of conductors 6, leading to thepole of battery f. The rear contact is connected by wire 7 with theswitchlever of relay 71:. The resting contact Z" of this lever forms theterminal of a wire 8, leading through lamp 1/ to the common return ofthe system, and its alternate contact 1 is connected by a conductor 9with switch-lever l of switch Zr and by a branch from the same wire withthe contact of relay Zr. The rear contact h of relay /1. is connected bywire 10 with switch-lever Z of switch A" and with 'contact Z" of switchis. The switch-lever l of switch Z: is connected by wire 11 throughmagnet 7 with the grounded conductor 3, and its'alternate contact is theterminal of a branch from wire The connections of all the switches arealike; but the circuit relation of switches Z: and 71: to secondaryconductors 7 and 10 or to primary conductors 1 and 2, which constitutethe actuating-00nductors of the selective mechanism, is the reciprocalof the relation of switch 7'? to the same conductors.

In general one of the actuating-conductors 7 or 10 is at the moment ofperforming a selection in connection with a selected circuit or device,while the other is in connection with the actuating-magnet of thecorresponding switch and with the succeeding device or circuit. Each ofthe switches when operated by current shifts the actuating-circuitcontrolling its own magnet to the next selected circuit of the seriesand the actuating-circuit of the selected device corresponding to it tothe next magnet in the series and at the same time alters the conditionof the switch or magnet, so that the switch becomes self-maintaining orstable in its new position.

The operation of the system is as follows: The subscriber desiring tolight one of the signal-lamps at the central office first takes histelephone a from the hook, thus closing the contacts m m and thenoscillates the handle of switch-lever 7/ to alternately break and makethe connection of conductor 1 2 with the grounded conductor 3-that is,to alternately open the circuit 1 or the circuit 2, which were bothclosed at contacts m m when the telephone was taken from the hook. WVhenboth circuits 1 2 are closed, the relays ,r h are both excited, so thatneither conductor7 nor conductor 10 is connected with the battery.Assume that it is desired to light the lamp 6. The lever of the switch 5is turned to open the contacts 5, leaving contact b grounded, so thatthe circuit 1 is broken and the circuit 2 remains closed, the resultbeing that the armature g is retracted against its contact g whilearmature it remains connected with the battery f by way of its frontcontact it. The battery f is thus applied to the conductor 5 and throughthe armature-lever g to the conductor 7, so that contacts Z l of switch7'; being closed current flows by conductors 7 8 to the grounded pole ofthe battery f, lighting the lamp (1. If it were desired to displaysignal 6 instead of signal a, the operation up to this point would bethe same; but'no pause would be made with the conductor 1 opened. Theswitchlever would be moved back to close the circuit of conductor 1 andopen that of conductor 2, or the switch-lever could be moved in suchdirection first without going through the intermediate step. Relay gwould therefore be excited and an instant after relay /1, renderedinert, so that current from battery f would be cut off from conductor 7and applied to conductor 10. From conductor 10 the current would findtwo paths to ground, one through the lamp 0 and the other by way ofcontacts i l through the magnet-winding of electromagnetic switch 7t".Magnet l: being thus excited would attract its armatures Z Z Thearmature Z in closing against the switch-lever 6 would disconnect thesaid lever Z from its contact Z", thus cutting off the conductor 8,containing the lamp e, the conductor 9 being connected to conductor 7,and so with the back contact of relay 7. The armature Z in drawing upwould engage the lever l, thus connecting the magnet-winding 73 directto the conductor 5 and establishing a locking-circuit to maintain theshifted condition of the electromagnetic switch while the contact at Zis broken, thus disconnecting conductors 10 and 11. Switch k and signal0 would not be operated at this stage, because the circuit 7 9 is openat the contact 9. If it were desired to light lamp 0 instead of lamp 6,the switching operation would be continued by changing the lever b toits alternate position to again complete the circuit 2 and open thecircuit 1. Relay it being thus excited and relay g rendered inert, thecircuit 6 5 7 9 13 would be completed, lighting lamp c, while conductor10, extending to lamp 0', would be opened at the contact if and the lamp0 thus cut off. The circuit of electromagnetic switch is would also becompleted first at contacts Z and then an independent locking-circuitestablished at contacts Z Z contact Z being immediately broken. Theswitch-lever Z of magnet it being draw-n up, the conductor 12 includinglamp 0 would be broken at contact Z* and the conductor 10 extended tothe lamp 0 and electromagnetic switch Z3. Lamp 0 however, would not beexcited at this time, because conductor 10 would be broken at contactif. Similarly the lamp may'in its turn be cut OE and the lamp a lightedby another movement of the switch I) to excite relay g and deenergizerelay /L. Circuit 6 5 10 would thus be completed to the lamp 8 and themagnet 752, said magnet in drawing up its armature cutting off the lamp(1 The magnet now closes a locking-circuit for itself by way ofconductors 5 6.

To review briefly the organization, it will be seen that theelectromagnetic switches are arranged in pairs, and the members of eachpair are responsive to distinct electric currents-distinct in this casebecause supplied over distinct circuits and means controllable from thesubstation in this case the relays g /L---are provided for applyingalternately the different currents to actuate the difierent members ofeach group. Each electromagnetic switch controls the operativeconnection of a responsive device or branch with a circuit fed from theactuating-battery f, and each switch is adapted when actuated to cutotl' the responsive device associated therewith and bring the magnet ot'a succeeding switch and another responsive device into operativeconnection with the circuit, so that the lastmentioned responsive devicewill be actuated when the other current shall be applied. It will thusbe apparent that the subscriber may by a proper manipulation of theswitch 5 operate any desired one of the lamps a, a, 0 and 0 In everycase the subscriber lirst removes his telephone from its switch to closecontact m m and complete the circuit of battery f through relays g andit. Then if it be desired to light the lamp 0 the switch Z) is turned toopen contacts 7/, whereupon relay becomes deencrgized and closes acircuit 6 5 7 8 from battery f including lamp 0. 1f lamp 6 were to belighted, the switch 7) would be rocked to open contacts 5 whereupon themagnet h is rendered inertand completes a circuit 6 5 1O 12 includinglamp 6. If it be desired to light lamp 0 the switch 7) is first rockedto open contacts 71 thus effecting the deenergization of magnet it,which serves to complete a locking-circuit for magnet K, said magnetwhen thus energized uniting at its contacts Z" Z conductors 7 9 anddisconnecting conductor 8, including lamp e,-t'rom conductor '7. Theswitch 5 is now moved to open contacts Z), whereupon magnet g becomesinert and closes a circuit 6 5 7 9 13 from battery f, including lampFinally, if it be desired to light lamp 6 switch bis rocked to opencontacts 6 whereupn magnet-h is deenergized and brings about thecompletion of a locking-circuit for magnet is, said magnet upon beingthus energized joining conductors 7 9 and cutting off lamp 6. Switch 6is now turned to open contacts 5 and deenergize magnet g, which servesto complete a locking-circuit for relay 7c; Relay la" upon being excitedcompletes the circuit of conductor 10 to earth through lamp 0 anddisconnects from said conductor the branch 12, including lamp 6. Anothermovement of the switch I) to open contacts 6 deenergizes magnet 70,which closes a circuit 6 5 10 from battery f through lamp 6*.

The interruption of the conductors and the consequent restoration of theapparatus may be performed at the substation by means of thetelephone-switch at any moment; but in the system shown it isautomatically performed by relay 2', which is excited in makingconnection with the telephone-linefand severs the normal connection ofthe line conductors with the relays g and 71/.

To prevent the accidental return of the mechanism to its initialcondition during the process of selection, the switch bis preferably soconstructed that it cannot open both line conductors at the same time.Relays g and lb therefore operate in such sequence that thelocking-circuit 5 6 is closed by one of said relays before it is openedat the other.

It will be apparent from this description of the control of theinvention that any of the devices may be selectively operated, or theequivalent circuits may be selected by vibrating the lever of thecontrolling-switch asuitable number of times-that is to say, by openingthe actuating-circuits alternately once for each of the devices to bepassed over in the seriesthat the selected device may be actuated or notby maintaining or withholding the actuating-current, and that the entiremechanism may be returned to its initial condition by breaking bothactuating-circuits 7 10 by interrupting conductors 1 and 2. It will alsobe apparent that the series of magnets for successive operation and theseries of devices to be selected may be indefinitely extended, anydesired device being selectively brought under control or operated bytransmitting the requisite number of pulsations of current in theactuating circuit or circuits.

My invention is defined in the following claims: I

1. In combination, a series of magnets arranged in groups, the membersof each group being responsive to distinct electric currents, means forsuccessively applying current to actuate the members of each group, aswitch operated by each magnet controlling the circuit of the succeedingmagnet-in the series, to render said magnet operative when excited byanother current, and a locking-circuit for each magnet closed in theoperation of its switch to maintain the shifted condition thereof,whereby the magnets may be successively excited to switch any desiredone of the series.

2. In combination, a series of magnets in two or more groups adapted foroperation by different electrical currents, and means for applyingcurrent for the excitement of any magnet, aselected device associatedwith each magnet, a switch controlled by each magnet adapted to renderthe succeeding magnet of the series responsive to a current differentfrom that exciting said switch-controlling magnet, a locking-circuit foreach magnet made operative in the movement of the switch controlled bysaid magnet adapted to maintain the shifted position of said switch,mechanism for each magnet adapted to render the selected device of thepreceding magnet inoperative, and means for controlling the 0perativcselected device; whereby any device of the series may be selected bysuccessively actuating the magnets and may be operated, as described.

3. In combination, several magnets in a series connected in twodifferent circuits, means for applying current in the circuits, switchescontrolled by the magnets adapted to render the magnets operative inreciprocal succession in the two circuits, a locking-circuit for eachmagnet closed by its switch when shifted, whereby the magnets may beexcited in sequence to any desired number, and a selected circuit ordevice controlled by each magnet, described.

a. In combination, several magnets in series in two circuits, means forapplying current in the circuits for exciting the magnets, a

switch actuated by each magnet, each switch controlling the succeedingmagnet in the other circuit, a locking-circuit of each magnet closed bythe corresponding switch when shifted, a selected circuit controlled byeach switch and a selected device or mechanism therein, anexciting-circuit for the selected devices, the switch of each magnetbeing adapted to render the exciting-circiiiit ineffective for theexcitement of the selected device preceding in the series, and means forbreaking the lockingcircuits, as described.

5. In combination, a series of magnets in several groups of which themembers are responsive to different electrical currents, switchesactuated by the magnets adapted to render the circuits through themagnets of the said groups operative in reciprocal succession, mechanismcontrolled by each magnet and a locking-circuit closed by each magnet,said locking-circuit being effective during the application of either ofsaid currents, as described.

6. In combination two magnets in different circuits and mechanismcontrolled by the magnets, a locking-circuit for each magnet closed bythe magnet when excited, means for applying current in either circuit,and a relay in each circuit, controlling both said lockingcircuits, asdescribed.

In witness whereof I hereunto subscribe my name this 12th day ofJanuary, A. D. 1901.

FRANK R. MCBERTY.

Witnesses:

ELLA EDLER, PEARLE B. CLENDENNING.

